Signs meat plant may be revived
Origin Corporation Ltd, co-owned by Canterbury businessman Arato Tsujino and Auckland investor Guanxiong Liu, went into liquidation last December.
The company's subsidiary, Blue Sky Meats (Gore) Ltd, owned an abattoir in River St, Gore, that was shut down following the company's liquidation.
Mr Tsujino was known for his involvement in the Wagyu beef industry in New Zealand. At least 16 of his companies went into liquidation last year due to financial problems.
It was previously reported that Simon Dalton, of Gerry Rea Partners, appointed liquidator of Blue Sky Meats (Gore), had sold the works after a competitive tender process.
In June, Mr Dalton said the company that purchased the Gore leasehold and plant was River Street Ltd, which was directly linked to Mr Liu.
The past general manager of Blue Sky Meats (Gore), Matthew Ferguson, has been appointed the new manager of RS Meats Ltd, a meat processing business also directly linked to Mr Liu.
Mr Ferguson declined to comment on the new operation.
A yellow digger and some workers were seen on the site in the past week, in what looked like construction work on the old plant.
Blue Sky Meats (Gore) bought the facility from longstanding Southland meat processor Blue Sky Pastures in 2021.
The 2021 buyer then processed its Japanese Wagyu beef through the plant.
The company promoted its Wagyu beef as a perfect combination of New Zealand's lush grass, high-quality grain, pure water and clean air, along with traditional Japanese farming techniques.
The techniques included giving the cattle massages and playing soothing music.
The cattle were grazed for their first two years on farms throughout the country before being finished on grain at a ''state-of-the-art'' barn in Rakaia.
The meat was processed at the Gore plant.
It ran into problems with Covid-19 and lack of demand from China as costs mounted.
New Zealand Meat Workers' Union senior organiser Bob Blackie said he understood there were about 30 workers, all on individual contracts and some casual, who were let go about Christmas last year
He said following last year's liquidation the employees were paid redundancy but were awaiting the insolvency process and a potential new owner for their holiday pay.
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